Fire in Japanese Chip Plant

[Bill De Jager]

This just came up.  I'm not sure how accurate the article will turn out to be, but there may be some hiccups in the supply chain for building cameras in coming months.

Fire in Chip Factory

[Birna Rørslett]

Hmm. This might be a serious blow to many makers.

[Hugh_3170]

I clearly remember the impacts of the floods in Thailand and the damage to the Nikon factory in Japan. 

Let us hope that it won't take six months for them to get going again.  An event such as this highlights the perils of having key dependencies on a single supplier.

[Akira]

Yes.  Many manufacturers of digital audio equipment depends on their AD/DA converter chips.  This could be as serious as the Sony sensor factory in Kumamoto that was attacked by the earthquake.

[Jack Dahlgren]

Yes.  Many manufacturers of digital audio equipment depends on their AD/DA converter chips.  This could be as serious as the Sony sensor factory in Kumamoto that was attacked by the earthquake.

While it might be difficult to quickly redesign around another manufacturer, ADC chips are more of a commodity than leading edge image sensors.

[Akira]

While it might be difficult to quickly redesign around another manufacturer, ADC chips are more of a commodity than leading edge image sensors.

That may be true, but the effect on the audio manufactures would be more visible to me, as I'm more involved with the musical and audio industries.

[Jack Dahlgren]

That may be true, but the effect on the audio manufactures would be more visible to me, as I'm more involved with the musical and audio industries.

I agree, audio industry will certainly feel it!

[Akira]

I agree, audio industry will certainly feel it!

And the current COVID19 situation will slow down the recovery process of both the AKM factory and the audio equipment manufacturers.